No Way Out
by Moderately Mad Moxxi
Summary: "I blame you." The words were cutting, only moderately sarcastic, and fully backed up by the ever-present downturn of pale gray lips. He winced imperceptibly at her biting tone. "Sorry."


"I blame you."

The words were cutting, only moderately sarcastic, and fully backed up by the ever-present downturn of pale gray lips. He winced imperceptibly at her biting tone.

"Sorry."

A deep intake of breath. A slow exhale.

"I had plans."

"Uh... sorry, I think?" he answered, shifting his bound arms in a futile attempt at movement. Emerald irises glowed in the dim light as his vision shifted about their surroundings. His companion remained unmoving, her own amethyst orbs fixed on his form.

"Don't be." she relinquished at last, abusing superior flexibility to move her arms to her front, "It's not entirely your fault, after all." She inspected the treated leather bindings momentarily before letting out a half-hearted growl of frustration. "It always has to be the fanciful eccentricities with Slade, doesn't it?" she asked, not entirely desiring a reply, but expecting to receive one anyway. Talking was just in his nature, after all.

His continued silence was an unpleasant surprise, simply looking to the floor with a self-loathing look in his eyes.

"Garfield?"

He reacted to his given name in the way he'd always done, immediately snapping his attention to her with a somewhat narrowed visage of annoyance. She was the only one who'd remembered after he'd let it slip some time ago in an absurdly late-night game of Truth or Date, but that didn't stop her from using the knowledge against him whenever the situation presented itself.

"Rae." he replied, utilizing the pet name he knew she hated equally as much as he loathed his given one. She simply rolled her eyes, unwilling to argue at this particular moment.

"As much as you know I adore arguing with you," she began, not even attempting to hide the sarcasm dripping off of her every word, "we need to figure a way out before Slade returns.

"Dude." He started with one of his (she would begrudgingly admit) few remaining bad habits. That word had been on the tip of his tongue since Cyborg had called him by it upon their first meeting, and it hadn't left since. "I tried while you were out of it. No movement," he rattled the chains holding him in close proximity to the wall behind him before appearing to concentrate momentarily, "no powers, and, most importantly, no idea where we are!"

His composure had finally slipped, the irritated shout echoing into the vast emptiness around them.

They hung suspended in what appeared to be a large birdcage over a pitch dark chasm, with no light above or to the sides to guide them. A lone oil lantern illuminated the immediate area in a dim romantic glow, revealing rocky cave walls to either side, which the cage hugged snugly, and were also the surfaces to which their bindings were attached. The cage itself appeared to be made of brass, with no visible door, but their lack of superhuman – or magical, in her case – abilities would lead them to believe that the material was just another of Slade's little inventions aimed towards making their lives more difficult. To add insult to injury, the chains holding them down were just that: normal chains. The two physically weakest of their little crew could be held down by simple metal and leather cuffs, and he knew how that would poke at their pride.

They were silent for a few moments.

"Sorry." he muttered under his breath. She heard it anyway, but didn't visibly react, allowing her usual deadpan expression to remain.

"Don't be."

There was a smirk behind those words, he was sure. He'd been listening to that dry tone for years, associating each and every way her voice would change with an array of emotions. However, while her voice remained confident, he could detect the disappointment in her impassive features. He'd also been watching her for years, and that too lead him towards a handful of conclusions about the near-imaginary expressions she could wear while keeping the same straight face. She needed a distraction from the situation.

"So… what were you going to do, anyway?" he inquired, shifting himself into what his companion assumed was a more comfortable position. She reacted oddly. That tiny widening of her eyes betrayed her surprise, and he was sure there was a panicked look of embarrassment somewhere in there as well.

"Nothing in particular." she huffed. He was sure it wasn't just his imagination when he noticed her attempt to retreat further into the azure cloak that seemed permanently attached to her person.

"'Nothing in particular,'" he repeated, mimicking her tone as best he could, "doesn't usually make you this emotional or guarded."

"Garfield…"

If she'd been surprised before, she was downright gobsmacked now, and it took him a few precious moments to realize why: he'd not once before implied that he could read her as well as he did in that moment, or that he'd been paying enough attention to do so. He quickly attempted to laugh it off, wiggling around as if he were attempting to move his arms in some form of nervous habit but he'd forgotten they were bound.

"Heh, uh… I-I mean-"

"I needed some cooking ingredients. I wanted to make something nice for everyone." she admitted quickly, interrupting his stuttering explanation. It was now Garfield's turn to appear surprised. He'd not once, in all of the years he knew her, seen Raven cook, or make anything other than tea, really. Maybe toast once, but even then, she refused to put a piece in for him.

"You're acting strange lately." he informed her, taking a breath to calm himself after his slip of composure. The situation was getting strange for him. Usually it was her that gave him these talks. The last time he'd had to do so for her, well… he hadn't seen her hug anyone before that, or to this day. To his knowledge, he still remained the only one. He felt an odd sort of pride in that.

She remained silent, apparently expecting him to elaborate.

"You're hiding in your room even more than usual, you've got these shady plans," She gave him a strange look at his wording on that one but he continued, unfazed, "and you even blew up on Cy when he mentioned birthday cake the… other… day…" he slowed down his speech, coming to realization. Quickly mentally counting the days, he let out a shout of surprise. "Rae, it's your birthday this weekend!"

"I never would have known." she groaned. He knew then that something was especially wrong.

"Rae?"

His voice was dripping with concern, and he knew she'd heard it.

"What's going on?"

She seemed to be visibly shrinking into her cloak at this point, a definite signal of the rarest of her emotions, fear. He could count the number of times he'd seen her genuinely afraid on a single hand, and her strangely silent demeanor – even moreso than usual – left him with the conclusion that this particular situation was far worse than any other time before.

"Rae…" his soft voice sought to soothe her. The warmth of his affection wrapped around her empathic senses – which were, strangely enough, not disabled within the metal cage - like a heavy blanket, closing her mind off from the troubles of the rest of the world for that single moment. "I can help, whatever it is. We're going to get out of here, and then we'll have a nice birthday celebration for you-"

She cut him off with a choked back noise of disapproval and sadness, and he snapped his attention back to her glittering amethyst depths.

"No, Garfield. It isn't going to be alright."

He wanted to speak, but found his mouth dry of words for one of the first times in his life, so entranced was he in the idea that this was the first time he'd ever seen her with real tears in her eyes.

" _The gem was borne of evil's fire. The gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire… the end of all things mortal_." she recited with practiced finality. "My life is a prophecy. I was born for nothing more than to be a portal for my father," he shuddered at the thought of the great red demon he'd once fought while trapped in her mind, "and on my sixteenth birthday – this weekend – the world will end."

She looked despondently at the floor of the cage, finding it hard to continue holding her teammate's gaze.

"And there's nothing we can do to stop it. No way out."

She was more than simply startled when she felt strong arms wrap around her. Her eyes frantically jumped to the spot where he'd resided, but found the torn leather that had been his cuffs lying on the floor of the cage. He squeezed tighter, and suddenly she was surrounded by his emotions once more; confidence, affection, trepidation, rage, happiness, and so much more, enveloping her in something that was so unique to him that she couldn't help but feel strange.

"Hey, we're the Teen Titans. There is _**nothing**_ that we can't do, and that includes kicking your demon dad's butt back to where he came from. You'd do well to remember that."

The confidence in his words was overwhelming in and of itself, but it was the foxy grin he gave her when she finally decided to look at him that calmed her roiling emotions. She didn't even have to question the fact that he'd been scraping his wrists against the rock walls for the entirety of their conversation – his bloody wrists and knuckles were evidence enough. He quickly utilized his claws to tear through her own restraints, giving her an exaggerated gentlemanly pose as he extended his hand to her. She smiled, allowing his larger hand to close around her small palms and pull her to her feet, admiring the contrast between ivory-gray and green. She didn't need any more sweet words. Drawing upon his confidence and affection was enough to revitalize her spirits for the time being.

"So, uh…" he trailed off, looking side to side. The talking had been nice, but that didn't change the current situation at all. They were still suspended in the middle of nowhere high above a crevasse, deep in a cave they didn't know the location of, without powers, and trapped inside a large birdcage. She rolled her eyes, already formulating a new plan as her companion spoke once more.

"What now?"


End file.
